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But most people that I have known with this disease are normal or well above normal in intelligence. I guess it doesn't discriminate regards its victims.

This is also true in my experience. I have wondered whether in fact that people with high intelligence are more likely to get Alzheimer's. Perhaps something that makes them "bright" at an earlier age also makes the susceptible to the disease at a later age.

But it may also be that as a college professor the people that I know well are more likely highly intellectual people.

On your high functioning comments, I have communicated with some health care workers about people passing mental exams when it is obvious they have lost the mental capabilities they once had. They responded that if you start at a very high level, you may still pass their tests even with significant deterioration (Sort of a more distance to fall argument).

I have known some who functioned regularly in certain complicated situations up until the time of their death with no problem whatsoever, but they hardly recognized their own spouse or had any memory about what had happened in the last five minutes. It is incredible and yet so sad. Some have died of other causes before they got to that state. Others have become like a vegetable who couldn't even swallow a long time before they died. It is possible for some with fairly severe cases who have lucid moments sometimes. The ones I have known like that are aware that something is dreadfully wrong with their brain and the horror of it is devastating to them. But just as quickly it will fly away. Maybe it is a mercy that it does...Then there are plenty of other people I have known who lived to be in their nineties, and they were as bright as they ever were until their death. Thankfully, a lot more of them than those with AD. A lot more.

"We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid." -- Benjamin Franklin

My daughter in law gave Trehalose complex to her mother, but don't think she remembered to takevery much of it. She's declined horribly in this past year. I saw her a few months ago....Thanksgiving...she asked me what we were doing when we were sitting together peeling sweetpotatoes...She watched what I was doing because something as simple as peeling skins off warmpotatoes was confusing for her....and yet hours later, she told me this long involved story with everydetail....and then a month later I saw her for our granddaughter's dance performance of the Nutcracker. At first she said "My granddaughter is dancing tonight"....(and of course, this is my granddaughter too)...She was confused by our relationship to one another. And after the performancecame over to me and said "Aren't you proud of our awesome granddaughter?" Wasn't sure if she meant mine and hers or hers and her husbands....After the performance we went out to dinner withall the parents of the performers. It was a chaotic scene in a crowded place....She walked in andsaid "why are we here?" I said "to eat dinner"....We sat down at the table....she asked me to orderfor her...She reads the menu but it's meaningless...I ordered her what I ordered for me...salmon on a bedof greens... I knew she liked that. The food arrived....she looked at me and said "Did I order dinner?"I said "yes, this is it"...OK, so she ate....and then went on to tell me a long involved story about friends of hers from her childhood. So past memories....she doesn't skip a beat...names, dates,locations...In the moment, foggy. Yet she looks great, styles her hair, puts on her makeup andgoes to art classes. Doesn't drive anymore because she gets lost. Friends pick her up....but lastweek, she hit the toaster oven button each time the toast was ready. Fire in the kitchen....Herhusband who is 89 doesn't realize he can't take his eyes off her. It's just sad. We love our DIL'sparents....She still recognizes me....although last week, my DIL said she saw a photo of her oldestson who lives in CA and asked who he was....

"The happiest people don't have the best of everything.....they know how to make the best of everything!"

My mother's trajectory began with depression after my father's death and ended with breast cancer in the AD ward of a nursing home 14 years later. She'd been a gifted artist and pianist with an IQ of 150. Her's was the classic story, from increasingly troubled memory to complete disassociation. While in the ward, her general health actually improved... she forgot her smoking habit, and was provided a more balanced diet. She ate foods that she'd always had a strong aversion to- broccoli, spinach, fish, etc.

I do often wonder if those two things plus the fact that she'd been handling paint and turpentine for 60 years was her undoing.

My mother's trajectory began with depression after my father's death and ended with breast cancer in the AD ward of a nursing home 14 years later. She'd been a gifted artist and pianist with an IQ of 150. Her's was the classic story, from increasingly troubled memory to complete disassociation. While in the ward, her general health actually improved... she forgot her smoking habit, and was provided a more balanced diet. She ate foods that she'd always had a strong aversion to- broccoli, spinach, fish, etc.

I do often wonder if those two things plus the fact that she'd been handling paint and turpentine for 60 years was her undoing.

Sorry to hear about your mom..Interesting you mentioned paint and turpentine because my DIL's mother is an artist and has been doing oil painting for decades. In the past few years she switched to acrylics..but up until about 12 years ago was aheavy smoker.

"The happiest people don't have the best of everything.....they know how to make the best of everything!"

Sorry to hear about your mom..Interesting you mentioned paint and turpentine because my DIL's mother is an artist and has been doing oil painting for decades. In the past few years she switched to acrylics..but up until about 12 years ago was aheavy smoker.

Thank you, Chloe

Artist colors are full of heavy metals and other toxins. Oils and acrylics. It amazes me that any artist reaches old age.

Well, my DMIL was an artist for decades, and she was totally "with it" until just minutes before her death. Some of her paintings were huge so she had plenty of opportunities to breath a world of toxins. So it really is a mystery, isn't it?

"We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid." -- Benjamin Franklin

My dad's mom had dementia (maybe Alzheimers?) for a few years in her mid-80s. She passed at 86. She was a B.

Mom's mom's brain was perfect when she died. Lived alone until she died. Seems a combo of pills did her in (I blame the Paxil they briefly put her on that she hated and stopped taking...evil!). Also passed at 86. She was an A.

No cancer on either side of the family.

I'm kind of terrified about it since I'm an explorer with MTHFR issues (increases clots, decreases ability to detox), and I have a history of seizures and migraine with aura (dramatically increases risk of clots/stroke, which is of course, correlated with Alzheimers). All of my fingerprints are ulnar loops, too.

I do eat appropriately for my type, though. I think the big risk factors seem to be diabetes (they're calling Alzheimers Type III diabetes). My mom (O+ Explorer or Hunter, but probably Explorer) is type II diabetic. Dad is probably Explorer, too (O+, as well), but in perfect health (though is on Lipitor...evil!). They both eat plenty of gluten, which I think is also a huge risk factor if you're O or B.